A US intelligence report says that, while Iran is advancing its research on nuclear weapons, it is not actively trying to make an atomic bomb now. (AP Photo/Mehr News Agency, Majid Asgaripour, File)

(Newser)
–
Iran may be researching nuclear weapons technology, but US intelligence experts do not think it is actively trying to make an atomic bomb, reports the Los Angeles Times. Iran apparently stopped its bomb-building program in 2003, according to a secret report circulated last year that reflects the position of 16 American intelligence agencies, as well as another national intelligence estimate compiled in 2007.

Iran is enriching uranium at levels low enough (20% purity) that American officials do not consider it an active weapons program—weapons-grade uranium is generally enriched to about 90% purity. "I think they are keeping themselves in a position to make that decision [to build a bomb]," said National Intelligence Director James Clapper last week. "But there are certain things they have not yet done and have not done for some time." An expert on Iran's nuke program adds that US intelligence agencies haven't uncovered any proof of what the Times calls "a decision-making structure on nuclear weapons" around supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.